Civic duty

For someone who doesn't like to talk about politics, I've been doing a pretty crappy job as of late in that department. Although given the media driven world we live in and the current state of the economy and the election season, it is hard to avoid it these days. But politics isn't what I want to talk about. Voting is what I want to talk about. Every so often at work while we sitting around the big table in the conference room on Mondays waiting for our weekly sales meeting to start the conversation turns to voting. We don't necessarily discuss who we will be voting for, just the actual act of voting. The group is split into three groups: vigilant voters, average voters and non voters.

There is one girl (er woman) who has never voted before in her life!! In her life!! I know, shocking right? Granted she is only 27 so not counting the upcoming election that only allows for 2 presidential election opportunities, but there were plenty of midterm and local elections in there. What gets me even more about this is that the two elections she could have voted in were Bush vs. Gore and Bush vs. Kerry. Those were big elections.

I can remember when I was in third grade we had our own election. I can't remember who won, but looking back I'm slightly embarrassed by my vote. However, as a 9-year-old who came from a family that didn't discuss politics I didn't have much to base a good educated vote. It almost surprises me how clearly I remember the whole event. I know I was sitting in the back of the room of Mrs. Shell's classroom. Mrs. Shell marked the tallies on the chalkboard. We voted by secret ballot. I can remember in the 2000 election being irate that I was one month shy of 18 and couldn't vote. I remember being even more irate when a certain friend clearly felt differently about the outcome of the election than I did.

I can remember the day I registered to vote. I wandered around the LaGrange Village Hall looking for the right office to go to. The woman working was the nicest lady ever. I can remember struggling with having to commit to a party. When all was said and done though I was a registered voter. I walked down the steps of village hall with a little more bounce in my stride.

Over the next month, I'll track down the location of my new polling spot. Hopefully they don't run out of "I Voted" stickers this time around. Maybe I better just go to work late to be safe...